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Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Public Libraries

Genealogy tip for today: Local Libraries

This library in which I work
does not have a genealogy section per se` but don’t let that stop you from
coming here – or going to any library that is the same. If you are fortunate to
live in the same area as all your ancestors, than your local will be your best friend.

If you are not that
fortunate, then be sure to seek out the nearest public library to your place of
research. With the Internet now, it is easy to research libraries in a given
area, find their address and phone number and hours of operation. Most will now
even have an email address. Some do not charge a fee; others often do, at
varying rates. So first of all, you can find out their contact information.

Now, what will they have?
Even our “non-genealogical” library has sources peculiar to the area that
genealogists use: past phone books, old city directories, yearbooks, published
obituaries, newspapers, county histories, and even plat maps.Sometimes, local genealogy societies will
publish vital records of the area. Some of these items may or may not be in the
library you need, and they may have some things that we don’t.You would need to look at their catalogs and
do a keyword search. Or, of course, if you are able to visit on location, you
can just go in and browse. Sometimes you will see things that you didn’t
necessarily think of. The point is:
don’t discredit them just because they may not have a “Genie Dept.”

Now…on the other hand, if the
library you need doesn’t have what
you are looking for, think of other places where you might find them. City Hall
may have old city directories; School District
offices may have old yearbooks. And while you’re at it, see if they have school
records on your ancestor. If it has been about a century since that person was
in school, they may not have a problem giving you what you want. I wrote a
school district one time and just asked. Turned out they didn’t have my person
in their records even though she told me she went to school there. But you
don’t know if you don’t ask.

Speaking of which - assumption
is a dangerous thing! Let curiosity reign! You don’t really know, until you ask. So get those letters and emails rolling
and see what you can dig up (pun intended!). Don’t forget letter writing etiquette. Send an
SASE – self addressed stamped envelope and make only one request, or not more
than 2 simple ones at a time.

Never know - you just might
find what you need in the most unexpected places.

COMING SOON -

Our Library's Foundation board sponsors every year a Conversation With event, bringing in a well known author. This year's author is Debbie Macomber. It will be held at the Roger's Little Theater on Friday, October 11th. You can go online to www.rplfoundation.org or contact the library for your $39 tickets.

Tickets include meeting the author, 1 signed copy of Starry Night (not yet released), appetizers and drinks. Come join us, meet the author and help support our library as well.

1840 King William I of Holland abdicates.1855 Arrow, a ship flying the British flag, is
boarded by Chinese who arrest the crew, thus beginning the Second Chinese War.1862 The Union is victorious at the Battle of Perryville,
the largest Civil War combat to take place in Kentucky.

1871 The Great Chicago Fire begins in southwest Chicago, possibly in a barn owned by Patrick
and Katherine O'Leary. Fanned by strong southwesterly winds, the flames raged
for more than 24 hours, eventually leveling three and a half square miles and
wiping out one-third of the city. Approximately 250 people were killed in the
fire; 98,500 people were left homeless; 17,450 buildings were destroyed.

1897 Journalist Charles Henry Dow, founder of the Wall
Street Journal, begins charting trends of stocks and bonds.1900 Maximilian Harden is sentenced to six months in prison
for publishing an article critical of the German Kaiser.

1906 Karl Ludwig
Nessler first demonstrates a machine in London that puts permenant waves in hair. The
client wears a dozen brass curlers, each wearing two pounds, for the six-hour
process.

1912 First
Balkan War begins as Montenegro
declares war against the Ottoman Empire.

1918 US Army corporal Alvin
C. York kills 28 German soldiers and captures 132 in the Argonne
Forest; promoted to sergeant and awarded US Medal of Honor and French Croix de
Guerre.

1919 The U.S.
Senate and House of Representatives pass the Volstead Prohibition Enforcement
Bill.1921 First live radio broadcast of a football game; Harold
W. Arlin was the announcer when KDKA of Pittsburgh broadcast live from Forbes
Field as the University of Pittsburgh beat West VirginiaUniversity
21–13.1922 Lilian Gatlin becomes the first woman pilot to fly
across the United States.1932 Indian Air Force established.1939 Nazi Germany annexes Western
Poland.

1956 Don Larsen
of the New York Yankees pitches the first perfect game in World Series history
against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1967Guerrilla Che Guevara captured in Bolivia.1968 U.S.
forces in Vietnam launch
Operation SEALORDS (SouthEast AsiaLake,
Ocean, River and Delta Strategy), an attack on communist supply lines and base
areas in and around the Mekong Delta.1969 The "Days of Rage" begin in Chicago; the Weathermen
faction of the Students for a Democratic Society initiate 3 days of violent
antiwar protests.1973In the Yom
Kippur War an Israeli armored brigade makes an unsuccessful attack on Egyptian
positions on the Israeli side of the Suez Canal.

1978 Ken Warby
of Australia sets the world
water speed record, 317.60 mph, at Blowering Dam in Australia; no other human has yet
(2013) exceeded 300 mph on water and survived.

1982 The musical Cats begins a run of nearly 18
years on Broadway.

1991 Croatia
votes to sever its ties with Yugoslavia.2001US
President George W. Bush establishes the Office of Homeland Security.

pediculous

PRONUNCIATION:

(pe-DIK-yuh-luhs)

MEANING:

adjective: Infested with lice: lousy;
contemptible.

ETYMOLOGY:

From pedis (louse). Earliest documented use:
1540.

USAGE:

"We prisoners called ourselves the Jerseys, not out of respect for this vile, pediculous
hulk, but because it was our commonality, the glue that held us in its glorious
stink."
Jerome Charyn; Johnny One-Eye; Norton; 2008.

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the
night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow
which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. -Crowfoot, Native
American warrior and orator (1821-1890)